# Two new colors **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 27, 2010, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-new-colors/555231 "2010-09-27T15:53:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![petew83](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@petew83](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/petew83)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-new-colors/555231/1 "2010-09-27T15:53:17Z")
[![](https://probaway.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/green-red-radial_blend.jpg) ](https://probaway.files.wordpress.com/2010/02/green-red-radial_blend.jpg) [![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/37/Yelue.svg/500px-Yelue.svg.png) ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/37/Yelue.svg/500px-Yelue.svg.png) Just cross your eyes and relax; your mind will blend the colors together into something new. Does anyone have any insight into this? ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-new-colors/555231/2 "2010-09-27T16:00:38Z")
All I get is a continual shifting between the two originals, with more emphasis coming from the pattern on the right, since that’s my dominant eye. ---
**Author:** ![wheresmymind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/91b2a8/32.png) [@wheresmymind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wheresmymind)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-new-colors/555231/3 "2010-09-27T16:08:08Z")
Ditto the above, in the yellue example it gradually switched between yellow and blue. I never really saw something I couldn’t describe in terms of those colors. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-new-colors/555231/4 "2010-09-27T16:14:21Z")
I don’t get any one thing either. Sometimes I get two circles with pure colors and sometimes they disappear altogether. ---
**Author:** ![petew83](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@petew83](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/petew83)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-new-colors/555231/5 "2010-09-27T16:19:30Z")
That’s strange; I get a new color for each that is definitely not one or the other. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-new-colors/555231/6 "2010-09-27T16:24:11Z")
To the extent I see a new color in the red and green circles that’s not just shifting colors, it’s just sort of a muddy greenish brown. It doesn’t seem like anything that can’t be expressed in one of the current color coordinate systems, which is the primary criteria I’d think would be necessary for a “new” color. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-new-colors/555231/7 "2010-09-27T16:28:47Z")
The [Pantone system](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pantone) has thousands of colors. A big paint store will have that many browns, a color not in ROYGBIV. Of course colors will mix. Why are you being surprised by this? (And I also don’t see anything in those links.) ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-new-colors/555231/8 "2010-09-27T16:39:30Z")
MIght be interesting to see the [original context](http://probaway.wordpress.com/2010/03/26/a-migraine-prodrome-aura-cure-with-a-strange-eye-exercise/) of the first one, which is by some random individual and has nothing to do with colors per se but with using it as a method of crossing the eyes with concentration to relieve migraine auras. It appears that the OP is coming up with a new way of looking at these. The other one is just an image from Wikipedia so I can’t track it back to context. FWIW I see a shifting of a combination of the existing colors, not a blend resulting in a new color. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-new-colors/555231/9 "2010-09-27T16:46:36Z")
The blue and yellow squares I had trouble getting to stay crossed. The blue square dominated, the yellow turned into a rhombus, and at most I got a paler blue with a slight greenish tint. The green and red circles were much stranger, changing between red, green, brown and other colours. But that’s hardly surprising. ---
**Author:** ![J\_Cubed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@J\_Cubed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/J_Cubed)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-new-colors/555231/10 "2010-09-27T18:14:00Z")
You might want to read the Wikipedia article in which the second image is used: > **[Impossible color](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impossible_colors)** > > Impossible colors are colors that do not appear in ordinary visual functioning. Different color theories suggest different hypothetical colors that humans are incapable of perceiving for one reason or another, and fictional colors are routinely created in popular culture. While some such colors have no basis in reality, phenomena such as cone cell fatigue enable colors to be perceived in certain circumstances that would not be otherwise. > The color opponent process is a color theory that state... ---
**Author:** ![Blaster\_Master](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cab0a1/32.png) [@Blaster\_Master](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blaster_Master)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-new-colors/555231/11 "2010-09-27T18:45:22Z")
I remember reading about “forbidden” colors in a Scientific American some time ago. They mentioned these sorts of experiments like these, but they are difficult to see if the individual doesn’t perceive them as being equally luminous. Apparently, in their experiments they would find what the appropriate luminousity values were for people, then IIRC, they’d flicker the colors and people would see it. That said, the Blue and Yellow example was the easiest for me, and I could definitely see a Bluish-Yellow that was definitely neither Green nor Gray. The Red-Green example was much harder for me to see, but I think it’s because it’s not designed to be used that way. Again, I saw a color that was Reddish-Green and it wasn’t brown. I think for those who are having difficulty seeing it, you might need to adjust the settings on your monitor so that you perceive the colors as equally bright. If, for instance, the Blue seems to dominate, you may need to turn up the yellow or down the blue until they can sort of fade in and out on top of eachother, then cross your eyes and you’ll see the color. …of course, now I’ve got a headache. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-new-colors/555231/12 "2010-09-27T20:26:04Z")
I took another shot at the yellow/blue one and I think that much of the effect has to do with fatigued retinal cells, giving the complementary color. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-new-colors/555231/13 "2010-09-28T03:32:28Z")
I know exactly what I should be seeing . . . except that I have cataracts in my dominant eye, turning it into something entirely different. ---
**Author:** ![wbeaty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/439d5e/32.png) [@wbeaty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wbeaty)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-new-colors/555231/14 "2010-09-28T03:37:19Z")
But what about the color Squant?! [http://www.negativland.com/squant/index.html](http://www.negativland.com/squant/index.html) ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-new-colors/555231/15 "2010-09-28T05:03:35Z")
Not working for me either. Those 3-D pictures never worked for me, either - I’m pretty much convinced they’re just a hoax. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-new-colors/555231/16 "2010-09-28T05:27:21Z")
Funny, it’s those 3-D images that described this sort of thing as just the colors canceling out, when I always noticed they didn’t quite. They wash out, but you can still detect both colors. But I still wouldn’t call it a new color–it’s just random alterations between the two. I’d think you’d get the same effect with high speed alterations of color. BTW, Cat Whisperer, can you even cross your eyes? Are you sure you have true stereoscopic vision? ---
**Author:** ![NoiseBomb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/49beb7/32.png) [@NoiseBomb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoiseBomb)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-new-colors/555231/17 "2010-09-28T05:40:00Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > Not working for me either. Those 3-D pictures never worked for me, either - I’m pretty much convinced they’re just a hoax. No go here as well. I can’t see 3-D pictures either. (Glasses correct my vision to 20/20 but my eyes have never quite worked together properly.) In the first one, I can get the whole circle to briefly become whichever color the outline of the circle is. One or the other sometimes starts to disappear if I can avoid blinking for long enough. In the second one, nothing except the cross inside the yellow one disappearing. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 8:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-new-colors/555231/18 "2010-09-28T08:46:07Z")
Sorry, I either see blue gradually turning into yellow and black over time, or I see a sort of vague beige color. OTOH I’ve read that magenta, where the red and purple overlap, is a sort of color the eyes can see that doesn’t occur in nature, since wavelength is linear but the hue wheel is circular… ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-new-colors/555231/19 "2010-09-28T09:28:02Z")
I was able to do it for both examples in the OP. The red and green combined into brown and the yellow and blue combined into a dark yellow. As Exapno said, you could get the same effect by mixing some paints together. ---
**Author:** ![nikonikosuru](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5f8ce5/32.png) [@nikonikosuru](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nikonikosuru)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2010, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-new-colors/555231/20 "2010-09-28T16:46:48Z")
Forget that, crossing my eyes gives me a headache. Like everyone above, I only see the colors overlapping one another. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/two-new-colors/555231.md?page=2)